Crafting a Marketing Funnel

After reading a HBR case recently, I started to wonder why most visualized marketing funnels often just end at the convert stage of the customer lifecycle. Marketing channels direct potential customers into the funnel, where they are cultivated while they spin down the funnel, and then they are just dumped out during the convert stage. Having such visualization is good for learning theory, but it seems like most funnels are missing one important thing, additional funnels that are used to create brand advocates. Converted customers fall into subsequent funnels to be refined into brand advocates. After all, it is through the continuation of targeted marketing efforts that a company begins to build its’ brand advocate customer base.

A basic Google search uncovered that this multi-funnel visualization is not a new one, and thinking in those terms seems to already be broadly accepted by many. However, after watching a great Ted talk video about marketing and physics, I realized that physics could also be connected to marketing funnels to further develop the concept.

Have you ever seen one of those coin funnels typically seen at some big box stores? When you drop a coin into the funnel, it spins on edge all the way down as mesmerized people watch in awe. These coin funnels are designed in such a way that any sized coin can be dropped in and it will spin on its’ edge the whole way to the bottom without falling. These coin funnels are very similar to a marketing funnel in many ways, a few for example:

Many different people will drop a coin into the funnel, and many different marketing channels will drop a customer into the funnel

The coins can be grouped into different types: Quarters, Pennies, etc., and customers can be grouped into different personas: Men, Women, etc.

The main difference being that the coin funnels are perfectly crafted, whereas marketing funnels don’t always follow the same concept. Companies should look to emulate the coin funnels, such that, regardless of the customer persona or marketing channel from which they came, having a perfectly crafted marketing funnel will allow each customer to spin all the way down to convert stage without falling over (churning). And, not only does the purchase funnel have to be perfectly crafted, so does the retention funnel. Since, the customer’s journey does not end at the convert stage.

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